Rock Voices: The Oral History Project of Slippery Rock University
Dr. Thomas Hannon Interview
February 25, 2009
Bailey Library, Slippery Rock University, Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania
Interviewed by Sarah Meleski
Transcribed by Morgan Bonekovic
Proofread and edited by Angela Rimmel, Rebecca Cunningham and Judy Silva
Reviewed and approved by Thomas Hannon
SM: Today is February 25, 2009, and I‟m Sarah Meleski. As part of the Rock Voices Oral
History Project, we have Dr. Thomas Hannon with us. How are you today?
TH: I‟m fine, thank you.
SM: Okay, well we were just speaking a little bit about your background, and we found out you
grew up in Scranton: born and raised in Scranton. Tell us a little bit about growing up in
Scranton.
TH: I grew up in an Italian neighborhood, and we were the only Irish people there. Next door to
us were the Rodhams, and everybody knows Hillary Rodham Clinton, although she didn‟t live
there. Her aunt and uncle lived there, and so as a child I can remember her when she came. Not
too many of us—we were a little bit older than she—not too many of us cared very much for her
when she came [SM laughs]. But the Rodham family, George Rodham lived right next door to
us. And her dad is buried in the Washburn Street Cemetery. And in fact, right at the time he
died—Hillary‟s father, this is Hugh Rodham, I knew who he was but I didn‟t know him well. I
had done research in that cemetery and it was in atrocious shape. So I called the Scranton
newspaper, The Scranton Times, and I told who I was and what I had done [research], what I
thought of the cemetery, and they did a crash clean-up job for that funeral. But I knew exactly
where he‟s buried, right by the fence [laughs].
SM: What schools did you attend?
TH: Well as a youth or . . . ?
SM: As a youth and then growing up.
TH: I grew up in Scranton and I went to William Penn #40 school, I went to Ulysses S. Grant
#21, I went to George Bancroft #34. I went to North Scranton Junior High School, and then I
went to Scranton Central High School, from which I oddly enough graduated.
SM: And so after you graduated from high school, what university did you go to first?

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TH: I was very much involved in music and I majored in music, in fact, at Mansfield. Then it
was Mansfield State Teachers College, now it‟s a sister institution, Mansfield University. But
after one year my second love, geography, sort of bit me, and I switched from music. I still
belong to a musician‟s union, but I don‟t play very much anymore except for self-entertainment.
I got my bachelors degree in Secondary Education: Geography and Social Studies, with a minor
in English.
SM: Okay, so then after Mansfield where . . . you said that you went to Pitt for your PhD in
Geography; how was going to Pitt and getting that?
TH: Well, let‟s back up and put things in order. After I graduated from Mansfield, I taught for
one year in Harpersville, New York. [I] taught ninth and tenth grade social studies and I never
intended to stay there because I wanted to move on and do graduate work. I stayed there to get
some money to go on and do graduate work. Interestingly I saved fifty-three cents, and that‟s
what I had when my wife and I got married in ‟59, a year later. I had fifty-three cents in my bank
account.
So then I went to Penn State and I was there two full years while my wife taught in public
schools in Bellwood, Pennsylvania near Altoona. [Pause] So I did go to Penn State for two years,
and I left there because we had a child and we went back to New York state to Endicott, and
gradually finished up my degree away from the university. Then I taught at Endicott until 1969,
and then took a sabbatical to go work on my PhD at the University of Pittsburgh. When I got that
I went back to Endicott for one year, and then came here in 1970.
SM: What is your affiliation with Slippery Rock University?
TH: I was hired in 1970 as an assistant professor, then became an associate professor and a full
professor in the middle „80s.
SM: What department did you work for when you were here?
TH: Geography.
SM: How was that?
TH: Very good. Because of the trends in academia of course, and the interest in the
environmental movement, that grew very heavily in 1970. We soon became the Department of
Geography and Environmental Studies. And more recently, four or five years back, we became
the Department of Geography, Geology, and the Environment because we and geology merged.
SM: What Slippery Rock era were you here for?
TH: When I came here it was Slippery Rock State College, and then it became University in
the—I forget the exact year—middle „80s.
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SM: In 1983. We have it written here.
TH: Yeah I was close, middle ‟80s.
SM: Did the department that you were hired into change at all while you were here? Were they
for the good or for the bad if they did change?
TH: I never really appreciated the marriage of geology and geography. While I have great
respect for and love of geology, geography and geology are not the same, and therefore being in
the same department I don‟t view as all that good. But I‟m sure the budgetary concerns had to be
considered when that was done.
There were trends within the discipline, within my own discipline, that I really kind of resisted.
The technological trends, away from what I consider to be the human trends of geography. I‟m a
cultural geographer and so the things like historical geography and cultural geography, which is
very close to anthropology, were much more my interest area.
SM: What buildings did you work in while you were here?
TH: I worked primarily in Spotts [World Culture Building] except when the front fell off the
Spotts building . . . .
SM: When did that happen?
TH: Oh gosh.
SM: And what happened?
TH: It was, well, I know roughly when it was. It was in the very early „90s that the whole section
of Spotts, which you see from the library as you go out the front door, began to pull away from
the building. So then I—while they repaired that and it took, I would say a year—I taught in
Eisenberg Classroom Building, just across the way. But I have been visiting, you know, I had
been asked to teach courses in other buildings. I taught in the Ed building [McKay Education
Building] a couple of times, and Strain [Behavioral Science Building]. Interestingly, Strain was a
geographer: Al Warren Strain. And you have what used to be the Behavioral Science Building; I
don‟t know whether that‟s still Behavioral Science up there or not.
SM: Everyone just calls it “BSB.” That‟s how we know it.
TH: Yeah, but mainly in Spotts.
SM: And I was doing a little bit of research and I saw that you taught at Trinity College in
Dublin?
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TH: Yes.
SM: How was that?
TH: I took students from here to Dublin five or six times, and we used the facilities at Trinity. I
wasn‟t on the staff at Trinity, but I did that with IUP: I taught in Salzburg, Austria. I taught for
Slippery Rock also in Scotland at the Queen Margaret in Edinburgh. I taught on exchange in
Korea ten years ago: 1999.
So I‟ve been abroad, in Europe. Europe was my main area of interest when I was teaching, and
so I‟ve been to Europe many times. Got two Fulbright Grants to Europe and research travel
grants.
SM: And I also saw that you were part of the summer programs overseas. What part did you
have in that?
TH: I organized the courses I taught and I wasn‟t the overall organizer: International Studies did
that. But I taught the courses, or I designed the courses I taught. I taught The Geography of
Scotland in Scotland, and I taught Geography of Religion in Ireland and also in Salzburg,
Austria, and some other courses. But that‟s all: I didn‟t organize, you know, I told the bus drivers
there where we wanted to go, but I‟m not to be credited at all with organizing the whole thing.
SM: What were your first impressions when you came here? You‟ve been so many places . . . .
TH: When I first came here, quite honestly, I did not like Slippery Rock. Now I‟m not talking
about what became the university, I‟m talking about the town and the town‟s ambiance. I thought
it was too small. But in a year or two it grew on me because I forced myself to travel about
locally and learn some of the ethnic backgrounds and that kind of thing, which I needed for my
doctoral research anyway. I absolutely love the speech patterns around here: “yinz” and that kind
of thing. So I do like it but I did not like the town immediately. I did like the college or the
university.
SM: What changes have you seen in Slippery Rock?
TH: Oh my God; in the university or the town?
SM: In both.
TH: Well at the university: phenomenal growth. I think when I came here in ‟70 we had maybe
in the high threes or the low four thousand students, maybe four thousand. Now what do we
have, 8,500? And so all of the trappings that came with that growth, such as new buildings. I‟ve
seen buildings built that are now torn down: Founders Hall for example, was one. And moving
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away from the traditional kind of dormitory to what apparently students want today, these more
modern, homey buildings. Those were a big change.
The Happy Bus was a big change. Actually, I thought that should‟ve been in existence long
before it came into existence. In the town the renovation of the downtown has made some very
nice changes. The lifting of the ban on alcohol is in my opinion—though I‟m not a drinker in
excess—I think it‟s a good idea. And the tavern, the North [Country Brewing Company]
downtown, that was a good addition to the restaurant scene, as well as Ginger Hill. And even the
hot dog shop out on the highway.
SM: What were some of your campus activities?
TH: I advised Gamma Theta Upsilon, which was the geography honorary, for nineteen years;
and I turned that over to a colleague. I was also the advisor for Sigma Sigma Sigma sorority for
nine years.
SM: I just joined it!
TH: Those were more recent in my history here. I think I took that over probably in the middle
„90s or early „90s and then, you know, I left here and that was the end of that. But as far as
committees and that kind of thing, I served [on] many departmental committees, college
committees and even university committees. The most important one, I think, was the universitywide promotions committee which I served from ‟83 to ‟85, and in fact I was the chairperson of
that committee in the ‟84-‟85 year.
SM: What were some of your accomplishments while you were here?
TH: Completing my PhD was an accomplishment certainly. The reason I came here was to be
close to Pitt because I had everything done except writing, and so I could run back and forth
easily to Pitt and get advice and whatever. I think I was recognized as a very good teacher. I
don‟t mean to brag but many students took multiple courses with me, even though they were not
in my major. I always had very good student evaluations and good peer evaluations, and I think
that‟s the major reason why we‟re here; so that I view as a major accomplishment.
I became pretty well-known around the country in what I do: cemetery research, cemetery
landscapes. Wrote several major papers, and I think those are significant accomplishments. But
the most important one is of course teaching and I think that‟s what the whole staff is here for, to
teach.
SM: On a lighter note, what are some of your best and worst teaching moments?
TH: The best teaching moments [were] when I was teaching, because I loved it and I still do.
And when I felt that the students were grasping what I was doing and they participated, those
were the best moments.
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Worst moments were—well I can remember two vividly. I had in the late „70s, a young lady try
to take her own life in my office with a razor blade. And I had, when I was advising tri-Sig, a
young lady hang herself in one of the apartments, and those are certainly worst moments. The gal
who tried to take her own life went on and graduated quite successfully and is now a success in
what she does. But those were terrible moments. And students having seizures in class; I don‟t
know how many times that‟s happened. Those kinds of things are never pleasant, but you have to
deal with them you know. I‟m sure others have had as bad if not worse [moments].
SM: Who were some of the leaders when you were on campus?
TH: When I came here Dr. Watrel was the president, and he left in the middle „70s—„76 or
thereabouts. I view every president thereafter as a leader; I didn‟t always agree with what they
may have done but then again I wasn‟t president. And the faculty union organized in the early
„70s, and I view those people as leaders. Dr. Macoskey sticks in my mind most, obviously, and
Bill Taylor and some others.
SM: Who were some people that have influenced you or were very significant to you while you
were teaching here?
TH: My colleagues were certainly significant to me, and I‟m not talking only about my
immediate colleagues in my department, but colleagues I met in other departments. I just
mentioned Dr. Bill Taylor who was in Sociology. He and I became very close and still maintain
ties; of course he only lives in Grove City. My immediate colleagues with whom I worked day in
and day out were great influences in my career.
SM: What were some major events or activities that occurred while you were here? And they can
include academic, cultural, building projects, anything like that.
TH: Well you know building projects have been ongoing . . . .
SM: That‟s the number one answer that we get from everybody.
TH: Yeah. [Pause] I think the impact that 9/11 had was most significant, not only here but
throughout the country and indeed the world. The renovation of the downtown, I think locally,
was a significant thing, and changes in the [pause] town-gown relationship: I think it improved.
The most tragic thing was the tearing down of Burger King. No [laughs], I‟m only kidding about
that. But when Burger King came here, when Dr. Reinhart was president, he was all excited
about that, that we were getting a Burger King. Now it‟s torn down. But developments out there
along the road to Grove City are significant locally, certainly not nationally. But I think the
university‟s gaining recognition in a number of fields, [which] is a very significant thing.
SM: Do you miss anything about teaching here at SRU?
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TH: Oh my God, I miss it very much! Yeah, but I don‟t dwell on it. I thought I would, but I‟m so
busy with a number of other things, with writing. I live in a house that was built well before the
turn of 1900, so there‟s always something that has to be upgraded or repaired there and I‟m
doing that.
I‟m the curriculum director for the Institute for Learning in Retirement, which is affiliated with
the university and uses the university facilities. That keeps me very, very busy. And I teach there.
Now the only difference is I‟m teaching older people. [Pause] But the plus side of that is you‟ve
got people who are maybe more attentive than the nineteen and twenty-year-olds, but they don‟t
have the vibrancy of course, and I miss some of that.
So I‟m very busy, but I do miss teaching. And I have thought of—now I‟m retired since ‟04,
that‟ll be five years going on six—so I‟m thinking of trying to get one course here or there at
other institutions. La Roche, for example or Westminster. I‟d like to do that, but not on a steady
basis.
SM: Do you have any words of wisdom for us? Anything that you want any current or future
Rock community [members] and students to know?
TH: I think as far as faculty are concerned, and administrators, they should do the best work they
can possibly do in good conscience. And I think the students should devote most of their time to
being students and do some serious studying because it‟s important in terms of shaping your
career.
Those would be words of wisdom to this institution, but everybody knows those anyways. I think
we have an outstanding faculty; I think the administration is very good and I think they keep the
goal of success in higher education alive, or the spark alive as it were. [Pause] that‟s essentially
what I have by the way of words of wisdom: not very prolific, but I think sincere.
SM: How do you want to be remembered?
TH: I want to be remembered by my former students, who are now all over the world, as a good
teacher and one who cared—cared about some personal problems as well as academic problems.
And I want to be remembered in that way by colleagues as well. I want to be remembered as one
who did a reasonable amount of scholarly work. Then I‟ll be okay. And I want my epitaph on my
tombstone to say, “He‟s not here yet” [laughs].
SM: Well I don‟t have any other questions for you. Do you have anything else you want to say?
TH: No. It‟s been a great thirty-four years here for me, and I enjoy my continued association
with the university. I stop in to see my old colleagues once every few weeks and keep in touch,
keep on top of things, and that‟s essentially it.

Rock Voices: The Oral History Project of Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania